Happy New Year! A brief post today, and then the Junto will take a few days to observe the transition from 2012 to 2013 (before most of the members head to New Orleans for the AHA conference). Enjoy these reads!

Research

I’m really intrigued by John Fea’s plan to chronicle the reading he’s doing for his current research project. Transparency about the process is really necessary for people to understand what actually goes into a book, and a treat for other scholars to see how others think and work.

The UPenn Libraries have released a resource with tips on how to search a variety of databases, including several of interest to early Americanists.

Teaching

Linford Fisher and his graduate students at Brown have created a website to accompany their course, Religion in the Early Modern Atlantic World. The site includes brief essays and bibliographies for many areas of study within that topic, making it a must to consult for graduate students and scholars interested in early modern religion.

News and Notes

2012 has been a popular year for films about antebellum and Civil War America. Most recently is Quentin Tarantino’s spaghetti Western, Django Unchained, spawning commentary from several quarters:

At CNN.com, University of Pennsylvania English professor Salamishah Tillet reviews the film at the In America blog on CNN.com.

What is “The Junto?”

The Junto is a group blog made up of junior early Americanists—graduate students and junior faculty—dedicated to providing content of general interest to other early Americanists and those interested in early American history, as well as a forum for discussion of relevant historical and academic topics.